The Devil’s Cage

The machine gunner and his aide were well aware of how bad their situation was.

They were out in the open facing a sniper. Their surroundings were all ruins and debris, not a defense fortress by any means. They were both in grave danger.

Without any further delay, the two of them hid like everybody else.

It was already too late though.

Bang!

Another shot was fired and the machine gunner, who had barely had enough time to raise his gun, suddenly had his head blown off. The machine gun fell to the ground while the aide got scared and covered his own head.

He did not want to lose his life. No one could blame him for that.

As the squad leader, Hank could not care less about the machine gunner. He had already estimated the direction the shots were coming from and he fired towards it using his assault rifle.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The others joined Hank in shooting, and the spot where Kieran was supposed to be was shot to dust in an instant.

After Kieran had fired that shot, he’d rolled away to dodge the incoming bullets.

His [Firearm (Light Firearm)(Basic)] skill had not only strengthened his body, but it had also enhanced his knowledge of firearms, enabling him to both use a gun and know the advantages of each type of gun.

Just like he knew everything about the sniper rifle in his hands.

Although it was a poorly assembled sniper rifle, it did not slow Kieran down in the slightest.

The most important factor for a sniper was their location.

It was more important than killing the enemies one shot off..

Sniper rifle in hand, Kieran quickly avoided the incoming fire and hurried into one of the spots that he had chosen before the battle.

Then he looked down at the wound on his left shin.

[Shooting: Flesh Wound, Inflicted 5 Damage to HP…]

Just as the notification stated, it was only a flesh wound, but it also served to remind Kieran how strong his enemies were.

Kieran had an advantage over them, which was his location and the power it gave him to ambush them. However, he had gotten hurt after only engaging his enemies for the third time.

It didn’t escape him that it was the first time he’d gotten injured inside the game.

Ouch!

Kieran tore a part of his shirt off and used it as a bandage to tie up his shin.

“I should have learned how to deal with wounds from Maggie before I came here…”

The pain reminded him of that while he bandaged himself up.

He had to move once more.

He knew that if he stayed in that spot any longer, he would eventually be surrounded. The soldiers would easily be able to estimate his location after that last shot.

His gut told him not to underestimate them.

The wound on his leg slowed down his movement, especially when he went [Undercover]. Then it slowed him down even more than before.

After five whole minutes, he finally left the battle area.

He settled down in his new hiding spot and looked at the spot he had just left. Seven soldiers had already surrounded it.

It was a three-four formation, three of them moving forward vigilantly while the rest covered them from behind.

If Kieran was still there, he would have already been killed ten times over.

Even if he had been able to take out one or two of them, he would still have been killed by the rest.

Kieran had already left that area though, and could safely snipe out the remaining soldiers from a distance.

Bang!

One of the soldiers fell down in a puddle of blood.

[Shooting: Lethal Shot, Inflicted 100 Damage to Target HP, (50 Firearm (Light Firearm) (Basic) X2). Target died.]

The battle log notification confirmed that the man was dead.

Kieran started to move again.

Shots followed him, fired right at the spot that he had just moved away from. Kieran was glad that he had chosen this area that he was so familiar with.

“Damn it!” Hank shouted.

One of his men had fallen once more.

He wanted to tear the damn sniper apart with his own hands and rip him limb by limb, but he knew that rage would not help him solve the problem at hand.

If he did not come up with a plan soon, then he and all of his men would die there.

Hank started to look around, but layers of ruins were blocking his view.

He noticed that the only vantage point was the one his sniper had occupied.

“He must have chosen this place on purpose!”

After inspecting his surroundings, Hank was sure of it.

He had a bad feeling about it all.

This was not a mere armed thug.

If he had been able to handle a sniper like this and had purposely chosen a terrain that suited his purposes, he had to be a soldier.

“Could it be a government agent?” Hank wondered silently while he frowned.

Although he was just a second lieutenant in the ongoing war, as Zarukhar’s right-hand man, he knew perfectly well that the rebellion was failing.

They were just grasping at straws. Without any support from third parties, they would run out of supplies, and then defeat would only be a matter of time.

When that time came, all debts would be paid.

Hank did not plan on dying in the process, though.

That was why he had followed Zarukhar in the first place. Zarukhar had promised him that he could ensure his survival when the government came, and make sure he had a rich comfortable life afterwards.

His survival was based on this. Hank could not kill too many government agents or any of their high-ranking officers.

If he did, Zarukhar would not be able to keep his promise.

“If the guy is a government agent, what happens if I kill him? I can’t afford to hesitate anymore! If that’s Zarukhar’s order, I have no choice but to follow it!” Hank thought as he clenched his teeth and gave orders to his men.

“Mark, Johnny, take the vantage point!”

“Hendrall, you distract the sniper!”

“The rest of you, keep an eye out for that bastard!”

He ordered them one after the other. The soldiers quickly moved according to his orders, displaying once again the discipline of an army. If this had been the thugs, they would have started blaming each other.

But this was the rebel army, and the soldiers carried out their leader’s orders in a disciplined manner.

Three of them moved out at the same time.

Hank and the rest stayed behind and tried to pinpoint Kieran’s whereabouts.

Kieran noticed the bait. One of the soldiers was moving conspicuously between the ruins, not making the slightest effort to take cover.

Kieran aimed at him, but he didn’t fire.

The soldier’s sudden change of action made him suspect that something was going on.

This behavior did not even match the discipline a low-level thug, let alone that of a trained soldier.

“Is it a trap?” he instantly thought.

After all, the best way to deal with a sniper was to try and lure him out.

Kieran pulled his finger off the trigger. He need to look at the situation as a whole.

That’s when he realized something.

When he was still getting familiar with the terrain, he had made an extra effort to memorize all the hiding places and the spots that were safe to use to go undercover.

Judging by the position of the soldiers, it was not hard to see what they were up to.

“Two of them are heading towards the vantage point!”

Kieran looked at their destination using his scope.

The vantage point could very well be the only spot that could bring Kieran down. He had already taken out the first sniper, but he could not allow a second or third one to get there.

Without hesitation, he fired.

Bang!

One of the soldiers heading towards the vantage point fell to the ground.

The second one did not even pause. He quickly got up from his crawling stance and dashed out towards his destination.

Kieran saw him, but he could not fire again right away.

He needed to leave that spot immediately, or his location would be exposed and the others would start firing at him.

The soldiers had caught up with him again.

This time, he did not have enough time to go [Undercover].

The soldier that was dashing towards the vantage point was barely a hundred meters away and judging by his speed, he would reach the vantage point in no time.

“Damn it, I have to do this!”

While the soldier approached the vantage point, Kieran raised his sniper rifle again.

He could not risk exposing himself while the others were closing up on him.

However, he knew perfectly well that if the vantage point was taken, he would die.

Bang!

He fired and the soldier fell to the ground.

Although he rolled away right after, the force of the incoming bullets pushed him from running off to his original destination.

He had been shot.